Letter Writing: From Personal Connection to Sharing Values

[Music] [Music] good day dear viewers let me introduce myself i'm abigail adams and my good husband john here you most likely already know through his long career in service of the united states of america as a great mind a diplomat and a politician and a president our marriage has been one of deep love and commitment but also one of separations as a consequence of duties to our country perhaps you too have experienced the painful absence of a friend long separated due to consequences beyond your control john and i have found ease to our loneliness by writing letters to each other over the years to sit and contemplate the deepest matters of the heart and mind the pen in hand allowed us to maintain a strong connection even when the other was so far away we had to begin this practice early as when we were newlyweds john had to ride all over massachusetts to earn a living practicing law september 14 1767 my dearest friend i know from the tender affection you bear me and our little ones that you will rejoice to hear that we are well our son is much better than when we left home and our daughter rocks him to sleep with a song of come paul come home to brother johnny sunday seems a more lonesome day to me than any other when you are absent for though i may be compared to those climates which are deprived of the sun half the year yet upon a sunday you've commonly afforded us with your benign for influence i am now at weymouth my father brought me here last night and tomorrow i return home where i hope soon to receive the dearest of friends and the tenderest of husbands with the unabated affection which has for years passed and will whilst the vital spark lasts burn in the bosom of your affectionate a adams traveling for weeks on end in order to make a living and provide for my growing family was an agony for me when i am too long away from my wife and my farm i tend to grow bitter and ill-tempered in may of 1772 while in plymouth i wrote i wish myself at braintree this wandering itinerating life grows more and more disagreeable to me i want to see my wife and children every day i want to see my grass and blossoms in corn every day but above all except the wife and children i want to see my books none of these amusements are to be had the company we have is not agreeable to me in colonel warren and his lady i find friends mr angier is very good but farther than these i have very little pleasure in conversation don't expect me before saturday john adams one winter just after the destruction of the tea in boston i was trapped at the house of my parents prolonging what had only been intended to be a brief visit and stranding mr adams at home with four little ones to mind december 30th 1773 alas how many snow banks divide thee and me and my warmest wishes to see thee will not melt one of them i have not heard one word from thee or the little one since i left home i did not take any cold coming down and i found myself in better health than i was i wish to hear the same account from you the time i proposed to terry has a last i shall soon be home sick the roads are at present impassable with any carriage i shall not know how to content myself longer than the beginning of next week i never left a flock so large of little ones before you must write me how they all do my daily thoughts and nightly slumpers visit the environment i feel gratified with the thoughtful imagination at the close of day in seeing the little flock around you inquiring when mama will come home as they often do for thee in my absence you will not fail in remembering me to our little ones and telling johnny that his grandmama has sent him a pair of mittens and charlie that i shall bring his when i'm home our little tommy you must kiss her mama and bid nabi write to me don't disappoint me and let john return without a few lines to comfort the heart of your affectionate abigail adams in the summer of 1774 my law practice brought me to a particularly tedious session far north of boston this work was truly wearing on me and i felt my time was being wasted while revolution was spreading through the colonies this is the second day of the term at york very little business very hot weather my refreshment is a flight to braintree to my corn fields and grass plots my gardens and meadows my fancy runs about you perpetually it is continually continually with you and in the neighborhood of you frequently takes a walk with you and your little prattling navi johnny charlie and tommy we walk all together up pens hill over the bridge to the plain down to the garden etc i regret that i cannot have the pleasure of enjoying this fine weather with my family upon my farm oh how often i am there i have but a dull prospect before me i have no hope of reaching braintree under a fortnight from this day if i should in 20 days i regret my absence from the company of suffolk this week on another account if i were there i could converse with the gentleman who were bound with me for philadelphia i could turn the course of my reading and studies to such subjects of law and politics and commerce as may come and play at the congress i might be furbishing up my old reading in law and history that i might appear with less indecency before a variety of gentlemen whose educations travel experience family fortune and everything will give them a vast superiority to me and i fear to my companions i sometimes think i must come to this to be the foreman upon my own farm and the school master to my own children i shall arouse myself air long i believe and exert an industry a frugality a hard labor that will serve my family if i can't serve my country i will not lie down and die in despair if i cannot serve my children by the law i will serve them by agriculture by trade by some way or other i thank god i have a head a heart in hands which if once fully exerted altogether will succeed in the world at fall with mr adams away in philadelphia representing massachusetts as a continental congress i relied on our correspondence more than ever to keep my spirits up only this time we had no idea how long it will be until could return home september 16 1774 from braintree i dined today at colonel quincy's upon my return at night mr baxter met me at the door with your letter david from princeton new jersey it really gave me such a flow of spirits that i was not composed enough to sleep till one o'clock i am rejoiced to hear you are well i want to know many more particulars than you wrote to me and i hope soon to hear from you again i dare not trust myself with thought of how long you may perhaps be absent i only count the weeks already past and they amount to five boston harbor had been closed in the city besieged since june of 1774 crippling the entire colony of massachusetts the congress in philadelphia was the first of its kind a gathering of americans from throughout the colonies offering their support and unity during the great and important work to come september 18 1774. the esteem the affection the admiration for the people of boston and massachusetts which are which were expressed yesterday and the fixed determination that they should be supported were enough to melt a heart of stone i saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old grave pacific quakers of pennsylvania you cannot conceive my dear the hairy of business visits and ceremonies which we are obliged to go through we have a delicate course to steer between too much activity and too much insensibility in our critical interested situation i flatter myself however that we shall conduct our embassy in such a manner as to merit the approbation of our country boston and the surrounding towns were truly suffering by the summer of 1775 with hunger and disease spreading from the town out into the countryside where crops they gave way to battlefields i worried constantly about my family and friends but none so very much as my dear absent partner from weymouth june 16 1775 i feared much for your help when you went away i must entreat you to be as careful as you can consistent with the duty you owe your country that consideration alone prevailed with me to consent to your departure in a time so perilous and so hazardous to your family and with a body so in firm as to require the tempers care and nursing i wish you may be supported and divinely assisted in this most important crisis when the fate of empires depend upon your wisdom and conduct while the congress in philadelphia debated monumental action such as the support of a continental army and declaring independence from great britain my heart was breaking to be so distant from my family during a time of grave illness and loss october 19 1775 really it is very painful to be 400 miles from one's family and friends when we know they are in affliction it seems as if it would be a joy to me to fly home even to share with you your burdens and misfortunes surely if i were with you it would be my study to lay your griefs to mitigate your pains and to divert your melancholy thoughts when i shall come home i know not we have so much to do and it is so difficult to do it right that we must learn patience upon my word i think if ever i were to come home here again i must bring you with me i could live here pleasantly if i had you with me will you come and have the smallpox here i wish i could remove all the family our little daughter and sons and all go through the distemper here what if we should let me please myself with a thought however from braintree november 5th 1775 i need to thank you for all your obliging favors lately received and though some of them are very iconic yet they were they to contain only two lines to tell me that you were well they would be acceptable to me i hope however that it will not be long before we shall have mirror interviews you must tell me you will return next month a late appointment will make it inconvenient provided you accept for you to go again to congress a little flock in receiving papa's letters have been more gratified than they could have been by any other present they are very proud of being that's noticed master john has been very anxious to write but has been confined for several days with a severe cold which has given him sore eyes but he begs me to make his excuse and say that he has roped twice before but it did not please him well enough to send it maddie has been with her auntie betsy ever since her grandmother's death charlie and tommy begged mama to thank papa for their letters and wish they could write to tell him brother and sister crunch send their love your mother speaks pathetically of you and always sends her love to you i will only ask you to measure by your own the affectionate regard of your nearest threat the push for independence was a long and exhausting campaign but i found solace in the knowledge that my sacrifices might make the world better for my children in mrs adams i had a like minded partner and a collaborator dedicated to the education and success of the young generations april 15th 1776 philadelphia what will come of this labor time will discover i shall get nothing by it i believe because i never get anything by anything that i do i am sure the public or posterity ought to get something i believe my children will think i might as well have thought and labored a little night and day for their benefit but i will not bear the reproaches of my children i will tell them that i studied and labored to procure a free constitutional government for them to solve themselves under and if they do not prefer this to ample fortune to ease and elegance they are not my children and i care not what becomes of them they shall live upon thin diet wear mean clothes and work hard with cheerful hearts and free spirits or they may be the children of the earth or of no one john has genius so has charles take care that they don't go astray naby and tommy are not forgotten by me although i did not mention them before the first by reason ever sex requires a different education from the two i have mentioned of this you are the only judge i want to send each of my little pretty flaw some present or other i have walked over this city 20 times and gaped at every shop like a countryman to find something but could not ask every one of them what they would choose to have and write it to me in your next letter from this i shall judge of their taste and fancy and discretion august 14 1776 if you complain of neglect of education in sons what shall i say with regard to daughters who every day experience the want of it with regard to the education of my own children i find myself soon out of my debt and destitute and deficient in every part of education i most sincerely wish that some more liberal plan might be laid and executed for the benefit of the rising generation and that our new constitution may be distinguished for learning and virtue if we mean to have heroes statesmen and philosophers we should have learned women the world perhaps would laugh at me and accuse me of vanity but you i know have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard the sentiment if much depends as is allowed upon the early education of youth and the first principles which are instilled take the deepest route great benefit must arrive from literary accomplishment in women excuse me my pen has run away with me i have no thoughts of coming to philadelphia the length of time i have and shall be each changed here would have prevented me even if you had no fault returning until december but i live in daily expectation of seeing you here pre-visits to braintree in the winters were never enough to satisfy my desire to be at home and with my family i was endlessly homesick for the company of my lifelong friends my mother my in-laws and above all my good wife february 10th 1777. it is now a month in a few days since i left you i have heard nothing from you nor received a letter from massachusetts i hope the post office will perform better than it has done i am anxious to hear how you do i have in my mind a source of anxiety which i never had before since i became such a wanderer tell me you are as well as can be expected my duty to your papa and my mama love to brothers and sisters tell betsy i hope she is married though i i want to throw the stalking my respects to mr shaw tell him he may be a calvinist if he will provided always that he preserves his candor charity and moderation what shall i say of or two my nabbie john charles and thomas what will they say to me for leaving them their education and fortune so much to the disposal of chance may almighty in all gracious providence protect and bless them by the spring of 1777 we had been at war for two years and mr adams had once again answered his duty by returning to the congress to serve serve in the congress of the newly independent united states of america i was at the time expecting our sixth child and i would have much preferred to have him to myself but i understood the sacrifices required of everyone in the great cause march 9 1777 from braintree i have this day received a most agreeable packet for which i return you the most hearty thanks and which contains much amusement and gave me pleasure so i cannot help wishing you nearer you make some inquiries which tenderly affect me i think upon the whole i have enjoyed as much health as i ever did in my situation a situation i do not repine at is a constant remembrancer of an absent friend and excites sensations of tenderness which are much much better felt than expressed our little ones are well and often talk and wish for you master tommy desires i would write a letter for him which i promised to do your mama tenderly inquires after you i cannot do your message to betsy since the mortification i endure at the mention of it is so great that i have never changed a word with her upon the subject although preparations are making for housekeeping heaven preserve and return in safety the dearest friend to his porsche may 15 1777 general warren writes me that my farm never looked better than when he last saw it and that mrs adams was like to outshine all the farmers i wish i could see it but i can make allowances he knows the weakness of his friend's heart that nothing flatters it more than praises bestowed upon a certain lady i am suffering every day for want of my farm to ramble in i have been now for near 10 weeks in a drooping disagreeable way loaded constantly with a cold in the midst of infinite noise hurry and bustle i lead a lonely melancholy life mourning the loss of all the charms of life which are my family and all the amusement that i ever had in life which is my farm i expect that i shall be chained to this or until my constitution both of mind and body are totally destroyed and rendered wholly useless to myself and family for the remainder of my days however i will neither whine nor croak the moment our affairs are in a prosperous way and a little more out of doubt that moment i become a private gentleman the respectful husband of the amiable mrs adams of braintree in the affectionate father of her children which i have scarcely supported for these three years past mr adams was appointed to several diplomatic missions to europe over the next decade first to secure an alliance with france and financial support from the netherlands then to negotiate the treaty of paris which finally ended the war and ultimately as an ambassador to london in spite of our best efforts to maintain our correspondence letters took months to reach each other and we're often lost at sea on christmas day 1780 i wrote to john who at the time was in amsterdam with our two oldest sons my dearest friend how much is comprised in that one short sentence how fondly can i call you mine bound by every tie which consecrates the most inviable friendship gets separated by a cruel destiny i feel the pangs of absence sometimes too sensibly for my own repose it is then that i feel myself alone in the wide world without anyone to tenderly care for me or lend me an assisting hand through the difficulties that surround me i find in my own breast of sympathetic power always operating upon the mere approach of letters from my dear apps and friends i cannot determine the exact distance when this secret charm begins to operate the time is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter the busy silks ever at my ear no sooner does morpheus close my eyes then my whole my whole soul unbounded flies to thee am i superstitious enough for a good catholic yeah a vessel arrived from holland and brought me your letters from amsterdam 25th september i have written to you largely since davis was here so not in reply to the letters you brought by him for old neptune alone had the handling of them he was chased by a british ship and foolishly threw over all his letters into the sea to my no small mortification our friends are well so is your ever affectionate porsche love to my dear john and charles i mourn the loss of their mothers by the fall of 1783 the war for independence had finally concluded with the treaty of paris with our ships no longer at war on the atlantic i was desperate to see my wife despite being detained in europe on further business for the new nation september 7th 1783 paris i cannot justify going home what shall i do for want of my family by what i hear i think congress will give us all leave to come home in the spring will you come to me this fall and go come home with me in the spring if you will come with my dear nabi leaving the two boys at mr shaw's in the house in place under the care of your father uncle quincy or dr tufts or mr cranch this letter may reach you by the middle of october and in november you may embark for london amsterdam or any port of france on your arrival you will find friends enough the moment i hear of it i will fly with post horses to receive you at least and if the balloon should be carried to such perfection in the meantime as to give mankind the safe navigation of the air i will fly in one of them at the rate of 30 knots an hour this is my sincere wish although the expense will be considerable the trouble to you great and you will probably have to return with me in the spring i am so unhappy without you that i wish you would come at all event i wasn't able to fly to my husband with quite the speed he would have wanted but by the following spring i had put affairs in order at home and was ready to undertake the daunting voyage and reunite with my good man may 25 1784 boston bound for europe i came to town yesterday and have engaged my passage aboard the ship active and now my dear friend let me request that you go to london sometime in july that if it please god to conduct me thither in safety i may have the happiness to meet you there i am embarking on board a vessel without any male friend connection or acquaintance my servant accepted a stranger to the captain and every person on board situation which i once thought nothing would tempt me to undertake but let no person say what they would or would not do since we are not judges for ourselves until circumstances call us to act just six months since a single line reached me from you all communication seems to be shut out between amsterdam and america we returned home from europe in 1788 to an infant nation with a new constitution and federal government and it soon came to be that i was called to philadelphia once more to serve as vice president for george washington mrs adams came with me for a while but was often ill and ultimately returned home to preserve her health and manage our properties in braintree or quincy as it has now been renamed after so many years of hardship this separation was the most tiring i tried to make brief visits home when i was not bound by my obligations to the senate february 27 1793 philadelphia my dearest friend i am so anxious for your health that i shall take the stage on monday for new york or whether i shall go by the package of providence or continue in the stage to boston i know not this will depend upon the wind and other circumstances to be learned at new york the fermentation in europe distresses me lest it should take a turn which may involve us in many difficulties our neutrality will be a very delicate thing to maintain and i am not without apprehensions that congress or at least the senate may be called together in the summer if not earlier however we must be prepared as well as we can for events and weary of reading newspapers the times are so full of events the whole drama of the world is such a tragedy that i am weary of the spectacle oh my sweet little farm what would i not give to enjoy thee without interruptions but i see no end to my servitude however the nations of europe and even of africa may recover their liberty john's two terms as vice president were difficult for both of us after three decades of service and sacrifice to our country we were both eager to retire together and live our remaining years in tranquility and so when president washington expressed no desire to serve a third term and the eye of succession not to imply any sort of monarchical thinking fell to john i felt myself quite cheated over my lot in life still yielding to civic duty and responsibility is a skill we have overhoned over this long career january 21st 1796 some communications in your letters are a source of much anxiety to me my ambition leads me not to be first in rome and the event you request me to contemplate is so serious of a nature that it requires much reflection and deliberation to determine upon it there is not a beam of light nor a shadow of comfort or pleasure in the contemplation of the object if personal considerations alone were to weigh i should say immediately retire with the principle i can only say that circumstances must govern you in a matter of such momentous concern i dare not influence you i must pray that you have superior direction as to the holding of the office of vice president there i will give my opinion resign retire i won't be second under no man but washington upon my pillow i shall reflect fear and tremble and pray that the president of the united states may long long continue to hold the reins of government and that his valuable life may be prolonged for that purpose my term as president of the united states while carried out with honor devotion and the best of intentions for my country was ultimately not my crowning achievement in life i far prefer the legacy i left in the massachusetts constitution i succeeded in keeping america out of another war with europe but my heart was as always with my home and my family retirement along with the final lasting reunion with my dearest friend and thus the end of our necessity to write these letters was a reward i anticipated above all december 25th 1798 philadelphia your solicitude for my health may subside i am pretty well i had a cold not a bad one but it is gone i am old old very old and never shall be very well certainly while in this office for the drudgery of it is too much for my years and strength the barn must not be a monument of foppery i protest against all expensive ornament my fortune is small family large and expensive and shiftless children and grandchildren enough to distract me a fine barn coupled with my hut would be a womanly head on a fish's shoulders let me spin an even threat of plainness through life it is christmas and a fine day i rode yesterday 14 miles an intent as much today our family is very quiet no quarrels no complaints 120 leagues in this cold season would be a terrible risk for you and only to be here three months and then a worse journey home my health would be no better for your being a witness of any pains or aches i might have i sleep well appetite is good work hard conscious is neat and easy easy content to live and willing to die so i sincerely think hoping to do a little good able to do very little perplexed and embarrassed very often by the folly of some the intrigue of others and the selfishness and ambition of many i am as ever j.a [Music] hello everyone my name is esther cohn and i'm an education specialist at the john f kennedy presidential library and museum i'm here to guide you through an important civic action that you can take to make your voice heard writing a letter to the president of the united states before i give you some tips for writing your own letter i'm going to provide some background information and share a few letters that young people wrote to president kennedy with email texting and social media it's quite possible that you've never written a letter to anyone never mind the president of the united states but letter writing used to be the main form of written communication letters have been sent to and from president since george washington the first u.s president and president kennedy received many many letters from famous people like eleanor roosevelt jackie robinson and helen keller but also from everyday people like you and me all right guess how many letters we have in our archives or our collections from everyday people do you think it's a hundred a thousand one hundred thousand more i was shocked to learn that we have about 2.8 million letters from everyday people that is a lot of mail if a family member or someone you know wrote a letter to president kennedy we might have it in our collections now these letters are part of the historical record they're primary sources that provide evidence about what people were thinking and feeling at the time and what actions they hoped president kennedy would take to address their concerns many young people wrote letters to the president and i'd like to share some of them with you they might give you some ideas about how to write your own letter you'll notice that they are hand written and two of them are in cursive now trying to read or decipher letters from the past is a good challenge but we want to make sure you can read the message so we'll provide a transcription to make it a little easier here's the first letter it's from david dwight roscomm let's see what request he had for the president dear president kennedy i am five years old and i live to watch television hmm do you think he meant love all right back to the letter i know you have to be on television because it is important please try to be on at a time when my favorite shows are over if you need help ask caroline thank you david dwight roskin 1371 panther road it looks like riple pennsylvania pa but i think it's royal pennsylvania david made an important request that president kennedy not take over his tv time in case you didn't know caroline refers to president and mrs kennedy's daughter who would have been about three or four years old at the time all right now for our second letter a letter of advice let's see what advice joan grant had for president kennedy about rockets at the time the u.s was competing with the soviet union of which russia was a part both the us and the soviet union were trying to develop the best space program in the world i love this letter because it shows that young people were aware of the race for space notice joan's address at the top she's from santa barbara in california and see the word to the left of the address she must have meant for this to be top secret information let's see what joan had to say dear president kennedy i think you are a very nice president but i think you should use more oil and gas in your rockets and airplanes you should try it make a smaller rocket ship and put more oil and gas in it because the russians have an airplane that can go 90 days without stopping maybe if you used a person who is light and can fit in a small airplane or rocket it might do the same things as the russians plane did now did you notice the date of this letter there it is may 2nd 1961 i was fascinated to see this date it was about two and a half weeks after yuri gagarin launched into space making the ussr the first country to launch a person in space but the u.s wasn't far behind alan shepard blasted off in the freedom 7 space capsule on may 5th 1961 three days after the date of the letter like joan you can send a letter of advice to the president i'd like to show you one more letter before you get ready to write your own can you find the date on this letter yes september 17 1963 this letter is part of a packet that was sent to president kennedy from a class of eighth grade students in new york city they were writing in response to a tragic event that took place on september 15th 1963 just about two and a half weeks after the march on washington members of the ku klux klan planted a bomb in the 16th street baptist church a black congregation in birmingham alabama the explosion killed four young girls let's read james jones's letter of concern and his suggestion for president kennedy to address the violence in birmingham alabama sir i am very concerned about the situation in alabama it makes my heart ache to see civilized people do such violence the bombing on sunday was really awful those children were innocent i know you are the president and you try to do things well but i would like to offer a small suggestion i know you have some troops stationed there but why not send more and make sure they are stern enough to enforce the law and to see that the local police does likewise respectfully yours james jones so now that you've seen three letters written to president kennedy i think you're ready to write one of your own we have two templates you can use to write your own letter the templates guide you to include important information in the letter like your address the greeting the name of the person you're writing to and a polite closing that part is pretty straightforward but now comes the harder part the moment of truth what to write about take your time thinking about this some of you might know right away what you would like to say to the president others of you might have a blank whiteboard in your head or even feel frozen no worries relax let yourself brainstorm which means come up with a bunch of ideas but how to decide what to write about this is when you get to share your point of view on an issue that's important to you you can start right in your own neighborhood or open up your view and go national you can use your personal experience what is an issue that has affected you your family or people you know what have you been following in the news or learned about in school sometimes it helps to talk it through with a family member or friend to focus your thoughts or get new ideas in fact you can actually write the letter with someone else we have many letters from young people in our collection who wrote as a group you can use these questions to help you what is one major concern that you have for your community state or country why is it important what can people do to help what can the president do after you generate some possible answers to these questions you're ready to use one of the templates to write a draft you can write directly on the template or just use it as a guide to make it more personal use the completed template as a draft and write your final draft on a separate sheet of paper be sure to sign your name and include your address so that the president or the white house staff can send you a response the white house website asks that letters be written in inc the templates we're providing are to the president but you can write to the vice president if you prefer now it's time to address the envelope you send it to the white house 1600 pennsylvania avenue northwest washington dc 20500 be sure to put your address in the upper left hand corner don't forget to put a stamp on it otherwise the letter will be returned to you and i think it's just the right time to give a shout out to the us postal service who will deliver your letter anywhere in the u s for just one stamp it costs less than one dollar to send a letter from anywhere in the united states to the white house if you don't have stamps at home you can buy them at the post office and also at banks some convenience stores pharmacies atm machines some gas stations and online finally put your letter in a mailbox and be patient it may take a long time to hear back and will you actually hear back let me just tell you that this is an activity we do a president's day festival each year and we've heard from participants that they have received a response although this activity focuses on sending a letter through the mail you can also email the president which is explained on one of our handouts on our website by the way if you feel stuck at any point you can come back to this video to re-watch or pause or rewind i'm here for you you know you don't have to limit your letter writing to the president or elected officials it's a real lift to receive a personal letter i feel so lucky that my father is an avid letter writer for my entire adult life he has sent me at least one letter or postcard every week and even though now he lives only 15 minutes away look at what i get in the mail so consider writing to someone you know who lives far away or close by it's a great way to connect i wish i could see your letter i love to hear what young people are thinking about but this one is between you and the president thank you for listening now it's time to make your voice heard [Music] you

Channel: JFK Library

Views: 1,252

Keywords: JFK, Kennedy, Library, museum, history, politics, 1960s, cold, war, camelot, president, presidency, us, john, fitzgerald, jackie

Id: pl8RW5rrsaA

Length: 50min 12sec (3012 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2021